1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a system, method, and program product that recovers from critical system errors. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system, method, and program product that recovers a critical system file corrupted by a hard disk error.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hard disk (nonvolatile storage) errors can result in an unreadable area on a nonvolatile storage device. If the error affects an area on the nonvolatile storage device, such as a hard disk sector, where a critical system file (or part of a critical system file) is stored, the critical file is not able to be read and executed and the computer system cannot be properly booted by the operating system.
One approach to resolving errors that affect critical system files is recovering from a backup media taken of the computer system's nonvolatile storage. One challenge of this approach is that many users do not routinely backup their computer system often due to forgetfulness or the time, effort, and resources needed to perform a full system backup. In addition, even if a full backup is performed periodically, files created or modified since the last backup will be lost when the full system recovery is performed. Another challenge, as alluded to above, is that, similar to a full system backup, a full system recovery may be quite time consuming, especially if the nonvolatile storage device is large or if the speed of the interface with the backup media is somewhat slow.
Another approach to resolving errors that affect critical system files that prevent the operating system from loading is reloading the operating system. A challenge of this approach is that reloading the operating system, such as from the media provided by the operating system provider, such as Microsoft Corporation, results in the loss of patches and updates that were loaded and installed on the computer system since the initial install of the operating system. Operating system updates are often security updates that address particular security issues with the operating system. Reloading the initial version of the operating system would result in increased system vulnerability as these security updates would not be present. To address these issues, after reinstalling the operating system, the user would have to download and install the previously installed updates and patches, resulting in additional time needed to recover from the nonvolatile storage area.
Another approach, especially if the computer system is under a manufacturer's warranty, is to return the computer system to the manufacturer for repair. Thousands of computer systems are returned to manufacturers because of minor nonvolatile storage (e.g., disk) errors that affect critical operating system files and prevent the systems from booting properly. This approach is challenging to both the users and the manufacturers. The challenge faced by the users is that the computer system will be unavailable for an extended period of time while it is repaired by the manufacturer. Exacerbating this challenge, manufacturers often replace the nonvolatile storage device with a different new or refurbished device that has been preloaded with the operating system. This results in the loss of any applications and data files loaded on the computer system by the user, unless such applications and data files have been backed up by the user on a backup media. The challenge faced by manufacturers is the costs associated with repairing systems with minor nonvolatile storage (disk) errors. Costs are incurred by help desk personnel in discussing the problem with the user and requesting the user to return the system, shipping costs, costs of the new or refurbished nonvolatile storage device, and costs of replacing the drive.